


Reality, Slightly to the Left

by AimeeLouWrites



Series: Cursed to Strife [8]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dimension Travel, Flirting, Gen, Humor, M/M, Parallel Universes, Turk!Cloud, flirting with your own cross-dimensional counterpart, this must be Reno's fault
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:02:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28842807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AimeeLouWrites/pseuds/AimeeLouWrites
Summary: As it turns out, there reallyisa dimension where Cloud became a Turk!Thanks, he hates it.
Relationships: Rufus Shinra/Cloud Strife
Series: Cursed to Strife [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2016314
Comments: 48
Kudos: 268





	Reality, Slightly to the Left

He was in the Tower again, which wasn’t terribly interesting. He was also in a room he didn’t recognize, which was...at least mildly interesting. The room was lavish, but also oddly impersonal. Nothing like the apartments of the First Class SOLDIERs he’d seen time and again. He wondered where exactly he’d appeared this time.

A door opened and in walked a distracted Rufus Shinra, which made everything click. “Ah, Cloud, there you are,” the Shinra heir said, only half glancing up from the tablet he was perusing. Cloud tilted his head curiously, and was taken completely by surprise (though maybe he shouldn’t have been) when the man came up and promptly pulled him into a well-practiced kiss.

“Flattering,” Cloud said dryly as he twisted away and quickly put some distance between them, “but I’m married, Shinra.”

Rufus blinked at him in surprise, finally taking in what was undoubtedly a host of very stark differences between Cloud and the Cloud he’d been expecting. He tossed the tablet onto a nearby couch and drew his gun in one smooth motion. “Who the hell are you?” He asked, eyes flinty and tinged with bafflement.

“Not your Cloud, obviously.” He didn’t bother to draw his sword. “Just a version of him, bouncing across dimensions. No need for hostility. I’ll be gone in six hours max.”

Rufus gave him a very unimpressed look. “That’s ridiculous.”

Cloud sighed, already tired of arguing. “More ridiculous than any other explanation? You know what—” he waved a hand— “go ahead, take a crack at it. Should be entertaining.”

Rufus narrowed his eyes at the challenge. “Clone,” he said without too much thought.

“Hojo wouldn’t know what a clone was if one shot him in the fucking face,” Cloud said flatly. “Try again.”

“Long lost twin brother.”

“With mako eyes?”

“Maybe you went lost into a lab somewhere.”

He rolled said eyes in exasperation. “Ma would have told me if I was a twin. And for that matter, if my mysterious twin had been snatched I would have too. Any scientist willing to snatch babies would have been delighted to have a set of genetically identical subjects to run tests on.”

“Hmm...” By now, Rufus looked like an amused cat playing with a mouse. Being interesting was generally a good way to deal with him, Cloud knew, and it looked like the principle held true in this world too. “Very elaborate practical joke.”

“Wh—for what? To brag that I fooled you for a split second?” Cloud asked incredulously. “What am I in this world, a Turk?”

Rufus arched his brows. “Well, yes. I take it you’re a SOLDIER?”

_ Gaia. _ Him as a fucking Turk. That was absolutely awful to contemplate and he wanted to leave immediately. How had his counterpart not gotten himself killed? Cloud was straightforward to the point of being completely unsubtle, he picked fights, he said was he was thinking, and he was stubborn as hell. Terrible, terrible qualities for a Turk.

Cloud shrugged the disturbing thoughts away—being distracted around Rufus for any reason was dangerous—and crossed his arms over his chest, “No, I just look like one. Sounds like you’re starting to believe me.”

“Maybe. You don’t have Cloud’s mannerisms, or I might have guessed that this was a surprise roleplaying game.”

Cloud made a face. “Eew.”

“I thought you said you were married,” Rufus responded, thoroughly amused.

“Yeah, and I don’t need to hear about anyone else’s bedroom activities, thanks. Especially not when it involves someone who is effectively my brother.”

“Interesting outlook. I’m not sure Cloud would feel the same way.”

“Feel about what?” asked the other Cloud, sauntering in through the door at that precise moment. He paused with a surprised noise upon seeing Cloud, then joined Rufus without ever turning his eyes away from the cross-dimensional visitor. His movements were almost panther-like in their fluidity, exaggerations of Cloud’s own fast and flexible movements. He looked like a wiry mirror-image in a neat black suit, a Cloud who’d traded physical power for incredible flexibility. If he was a Turk, that made sense.

“Ooooh, hello there, lovely,” other Cloud purred in a very unfamiliar tone, draping himself over Rufus as he stared Cloud down. “Rufus, are we playing a new game with one of your SOLDIERs tonight?”

_ Sweet Gaia, _ Rufus hadn’t been exaggerating. Cloud found himself momentarily speechless as he watched Shinra bark a laugh and kiss the other Cloud. “Not unless he suddenly changes his entire outlook on parallel dimension counterparts.”

“Parallel dimension...?”

“I’m  _ you _ from somewhere else,” Cloud said in a last-ditch attempt to ward off any flirtations.

The Turk cocked his head and examined him a little more closely. “Hmmm...I can see it. You must have had a very different life, to look like a big strong SOLDIER boy.” He settled his chin on Rufus’s shoulder and smirked. “I wonder what kinds of scars are under that ugly sweater. Should we compare notes?”

“No,” Cloud said flatly, mentally laying all the blame for this at Reno’s feet. He had no proof, didn’t even know how this Cloud’s disposition would have been the redhead’s fault—but he was going to blame Reno for it anyway.

“Pity,” Rufus and the other Cloud sighed simultaneously.

**Author's Note:**

> [Come join me on Tumblr for more nonsense](https://aimeelouart.tumblr.com/)   
> 


End file.
